There’s a rusty stain emanating from the rear hub of the vfr. Considering the service schedule doesn’t have a time or mile recommendation I’m going to guess it’s the original 2003 one with 60000 miles on. It feels ok, spins ok and the hub has to play but I think it’s going to be a good idea to change it.
OEM honda bearings, no seals = £86.
Non OEM full bearing and seal kit = £53.
For a bike that cost £600 and I’m selling in in the spring, what would you do? Cheap out or invest when you won’t see any return on it.

Spend nothing. If there’s no play then its not broke so don’t fix it, the stain is more likely to be the seal rather than the bearing. If you must do something repack the bearing and if necessary replace the seal but I’d leave that for the new owner. You know how new owners like to fettle.

If water is coming out its because it got in and the only way for water to get in is for the seal to have failed. If its rusty water that rust will most probably originate from corrosion of the outer casing of the bearing where the original packed grease has been washed away. The brown water could also be a water and grease emulsion. Whatever it is, from the description given, the seal has failed not the bearing.

Why do more work or incur a greater expense than you have to when its not a keeper?

Seals don’t rust brown, steel does. If there’s brown water coming out of the hub, that means something inside is already rusting.

And if I’m inside repacking the bearing with grease, I’ve already done the hard part and might as well replace the bearings while I’m there!

The seal might have a steel spring to maintain shape, and it could be that which is rusting. I remember the dust fork seals on the TDM900 splitting the rubber of the seal because the steel spring was so corroded.

Well I dived into this today after sourcing a 46mm socket to get the axle nut off and this is the state of the sprocket carrier bearing. To all those who said “leave it”, you were wrong, very very wrong.

To be fair, the symptom reported here was ‘a rusty stain emanating from the rear hub’ and the result of an inspection that concluded ‘It feels ok, spins ok and the hub has to play (typo = no play)’ All of which indicates nothing more than a failed seal making the diagnosis to re-pack with grease and replace the seal spot on.

As you will know the closer down and dirtier you get the more information you will have to base a diagnosis on. However, even looking at the short video clip, I still see no reason why the bearing needs replacing and would still be inclined to clean it up with a goodly spray of WD40, wipe over with an oily rag, re-pack with grease and fit a new seal.